By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL- The possibility of an authentic hostage deal has now become a waiting game. According to sources close to the negotiations, Qatari officials are in discussions with Hamas in Doha, waiting for their response to feedback Israel gave to the proposal on Tuesday while Hamas officials were in Cairo for discussions on the proposal. The source told CNN International that what’s holding up signing off on a proposal is that Hamas wants a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. It was on Tuesday that the negotiating team from Israel left Cairo where talks were being mediated between the two sides by Qatar and Egypt. Israelis angry at their government’s lack of action on getting the hostages home and at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for his continued delays – told Israeli officials to stay in Cairo until a deal was made. Netanyahu insisted on Wednesday that Hamas had to change its negotiating position before Israeli negotiators would continue talks in Cairo. CNN reported on Wednesday that a diplomat informed on the negotiations said that Israel told mediators they will continue with the talks but rejected a counterproposal Hamas made that demanded a larger release of Palestinian prisoners.
Meanwhile, The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) called out the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for arresting its staff at a hospital in Khan Younis, earlier in February. Though the IDF claims it carried out operation at al-Amal hospital last week that “detained approximately 20 terrorists” alleging Hamas members were hiding in the hospital – the PRCS said that nine members of its medical and administrative staff were arrested with several patients and their companions. PRCS said in a statement that its employees “do not carry out any work outside the scope of their humanitarian mission.” In a statement on Thursday, the PRCS said: “The occupation forces’ methods of defaming medical teams and accusing them of performing actions that fall outside the scope of their humanitarian mission are nothing but a poor attempt to justify their commission of war crimes by killing medical personnel in addition to bombing and destroying hospitals.” The organization added: “The PRCS believes that these accusation are only part of a series of excuses fabricated by the occupation forces to justify the siege, bombing, storming of hospitals, and killing of PRCS medical staff and others in the Gaza Strip.”
On Thursday, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF) called out Israeli forces to “immediately” stop attacking Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza as their staff reported “an undetermined number of people” killed and injured. Doctors Without Borders reported on social media also on Thursday, that the hospital “was shelled in the early hours of this morning, despite Israeli Forces having told medical staff and patients they could remain in the facility.” MSF added that since the attack, one of their colleagues is missing and that their medical staff “have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind. Israeli Forces set us a checkpoint to screen people leaving the compound; one of our colleagues was detained at this checkpoint. We call for his safety and the protection of his dignity.” The IDF’s response on Thursday from Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari was that “Hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside Nasser Hospital right now,” while Hamas denied to CNN that it operates at that hospital.
How any hostage deal will play out is a waiting game with Netanyahu the holdout who refuses to listen to thousands of Israelis protesting his actions and the Hostages and Missing Persons Forum who have been consistently pressuring him for an immediate hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza. As the Biden administration, Turkiye and a number of other nations have made clear – a two-state solution is the only path to peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that the Biden Administration and “a small group of Middle East partners” are working on a “comprehensive plan” for peace between Israel and the Palestinians that would include a roadmap for a Palestinian state. Though some media outlets said that The Washington Post report hasn’t been verified. Netanyahu has publicly nixed a two-state solution as what he labeled “a gift” to Hamas while far-right ministers in Israel’s government publicly rejected any plan for a Palestinian state on social media, arguing against it. Avi Hyman, a spokesperson for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office told CNN during a press briefing on Thursday that “Now is the time for victory – total victory against Hamas. And we will continue on the path to victory. All discussions about the day after Hamas will be had the day after Hamas.”
Photo : AA
